Understanding Credibility on the Internet: Practice Examples Directions: Look at the following links. Then apply the following set of questions to each website. Determine if the website is credible or not. Answer the questions.. http://www.dhmo.org/A. Authorship/Sponsorship—find out what person(s) or organization is responsible for the information on that website.1. Who wrote the information?2. What qualifications does this person have on the topic? Are they experts, students, or something in between?3. Do other researchers use this information from this author or organization?B. Purpose—determine why the information was written on a website.1. Was the information written to sell something?2. Was it written to advance a cause or controversial issue?3. Was it written to convince you to change your beliefs?C. Content—decide if the information seems to be fair or if it appears to be biased to represent the agenda or commercial interests of a particular group or person.1. Is there a bibliography, list of references, or other documentation?2. Is the information current? (Look for the date at the bottom of the page. If the date is not recent, the info might not be relevant or valid.)3. Does the site contain spelling or grammar errors?Is this website a credible source? Why? Or why not.
2. http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/bottled/index.htmlA. Authorship/Sponsorship—find out what person(s) or organization is responsible for the information on that website.1. Who wrote the information?2. What qualifications does this person have on the topic? Are they experts, students, or something inbetween?3. Do other researchers use this information from this author or organization?B. Purpose—determine why the information was written on a website.1. Was the information written to sell something?2. Was it written to advance a cause or controversial issue?3. Was it written to convince you to change your beliefs?C. Content—decide if the information seems to be fair or if it appears to be biased to represent theagenda or commercial interests of a particular group or person.1. Is there a bibliography, list of references, or other documentation?2. Is the information current? (Look for the date at the bottom of the page. If the date is not recent,the info might not be relevant or valid.)3. Does the site contain spelling or grammar errors?Is this website a credible source? Why? Or why not?
